MeeGo gets going: source code and developer builds available

The MeeGo Linux platform, which brings together Maemo and Moblin, is now open …

In a statement today at the official MeeGo community Web site, Intel Open Source Technology Center director Imad Sousou announced that the MeeGo source code and first installable images are available for download. The platform itself is still incomplete and under heavy active development. The purpose of this release is to make it possible for third-party developers to begin participating in the project.

According to Sousou, this initial code drop includes the kernel and key parts of the operating system infrastructure, such as system libraries and communications frameworks. Installable images are available in several flavors, including one for Nokia's N900 smartphone and one for Atom-based netbooks. These do not include the MeeGo user interface layer or standard application stack, which means that they aren't yet suitable for adoption by regular users. A more complete release is expected to occur in May.

The MeeGo Linux platform was launched in February when Intel and Nokia announced plans to converge Moblin and Maemo, their respective Linux-based mobile operating systems. The companies hope to reduce fragmentation and boost collaboration by making MeeGo an industry-standard mobile Linux platform with support for multiple form factors and processor architectures. In an effort to make the project more inclusive and vendor-neutral, Intel and Nokia have partnered with the Linux Foundation.

There are several key factors that differentiate MeeGo from Android and other competing platforms. One is that it is more closely aligned with the upstream Linux kernel and desktop stack. Another important difference is that it is intended to adopt a participatory development model. The code will be developed in public repositories so that adopters and contributors can be involved from the earliest stages of development, even before the first products based on the technology are released.

"Today is the culmination of a huge effort by the worldwide Nokia and Intel teams to share the MeeGo operating system code with the open source community," wrote Sosou. "This is the latest step in the full merger of Maemo and Moblin, and we are happy to open the repositories and move the ongoing development work into the open—as we set out to do from the beginning."

The availability of some critical MeeGo source code at this very early stage is a positive sign that the project will live up to its promise of strong transparency and open development. There is still much work to be done before the platform is ready for consumers. The first MeeGo-based devices are expected to ship later this year.